Eastern Roman Empire

The Eastern Roman Empire was the eastern portion of the Roman Empire, founded in 337 following the death of Constantine the Great, and formally divided in 395 AD. The empire was also known as the Byzantine Empire, while some historians prefer to use the term "Byzantine" after the end of the Western Roman Empire.

History
The Eastern Roman Empire was divided from Rome after the death of the great Constantine, taking on the shape of a Greco-Roman combination of a civilization. The Eastern Romans used the city of Byzantium, now called Constantinople, as their capital, and controlled all of The Balkans (Croatia apart), Asia Minor, all of North Africa from Libya to Egypt, Mesopotamia, and the Levant. While Rome fought the Germanic tribes, the Eastern Romans mainly fought the Sassanid Empire, exchanging a few invasions, which left a Roman emperor and several troops dead in 363. The Eastern Roman Empire fought back and managed to hold onto their lands, but were forced to cede all lands in Mesopotamia to the Persians, instead owning the Near East, Asia Minor, and Egypt. The Eastern Romans were soon invaded by the Ostrogoths, their former allies, and fought them in a series of conflicts that culminated in the death of Flavius Valens in the Battle of Adrianople in 378 AD. From then on, the Eastern Romans declined, but after the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476, a golden age for them began as the Byzantine Empire.